Disappointment reigns in Thessaloniki after his announcement Stavros Niarchos Foundation that the tender for the long-awaited children’s hospital in Filiro, Thessaloniki was essentially inconclusive and therefore cancelled. It should be remembered that this is the first pediatric hospital outside of Attica, which will meet the greatly increased needs of almost all of northern Greece. The start of its operation was planned for the end of 2025.

Similar were the plans of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation for the hospitals in Komotini and Sparta, which were to be moved to new buildings. All three projects are part of the Foundation’s international health initiative, which for Greece exceeds 400 million euros. The foundation, in a statement, explains what led to the cancellation of the contest. “All applications submitted on Thursday, February 9, 2023 far exceeded the financial goal of the donation (more than double in some cases), even with recent international events (war, inflation, disruption of the supply chain, etc.)” . This development currently makes it impossible for the said projects for the three new hospitals to be completed at the level of quality envisaged by the SNF and which Greece deserves. However, the Foundation is considering all possibilities and any alternative solutions and will soon issue a new announcement.”

Answering the KKE question in Parliament yesterday about the medical treatment of citizens, Minister of Health Thanos Plyuris referred to this particular event, stating that “this concerns the tender process conducted by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. We assure that the hospitals will operate as planned.” On the same wave were the statements of the Minister of State Aki Skertsov, who was in the areas of Western Thessaloniki, and stated that “there will be a slight delay, which will slightly push back the implementation schedule, but without any change in the goal of creating a new children’s hospital.”

In a statement on the matter, Andreas Xanthos, head of the SYRIZA health department and former Minister of Health, states that the event “has caused great concern in public opinion about the fate of a very important donation and the possibility of upgrading the infrastructure of the National Health Service.” . The key question is whether the government was aware of this stalemate and whether it intends, even after the fact, to take the lead in enforcing the SNF contract with the Greek state in the sensitive health sector.”